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a special treat for diners at Bosco's Restaurant in downtown Little Rock
These aren't just heroes. These are also sons and daughters and wives and husbands and fathers and mothers. The tremendous amount that you've given to our country to make it what it is today, I truly am thankful."
Alan Syler and his fellow Navy men were waiting for an overseas flight at Boston's Logan Airport in 1970 when a group of "long-haired types" began chucking Coke cans at them. It didn't matter that Syler and his unit weren't serving in the Vietnam War. (They were headed to Scotland to board a submarine).
Their dress blues were enough to implicate them.
Flowers decorate a grave at the Chattanooga National Cemetery after the 2015 Memorial Day program.Syler said the political divide in the United States at the time manifested itself in horrible treatment for all veterans, especially those who served in Vietnam.
"It was so wrong that they were treated the way they were," said Syler, vice chairman of the Chattanooga Area Veterans Council.
Much of this year's Memorial Day service at Chattanooga National Cemetery centered on honoring the sacrifices and burdens of Vietnam veterans -- sacrifices both abroad and at home.
In 2012, the federal government began a 13-year celebration honoring the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War, which spanned from 1954 to 1975. Nearly 60,000 Americans died during the conflict.
"The Vietnam War is a very emotional time for me," Mickey McCamish, a retired Navy captain who served in Vietnam from 1967 to 1969, said in his keynote address. "Because I think of my classmates, I think of my shipmates, I think of my friends that are among those 58,220 that made the ultimate sacrifice. And let me assure you they didn't turn and run. They stayed and protected on foreign soil."
McCamish, now chairman of the Southeast Tennessee Veterans Coalition, told stories of serving on destroyers protecting the South Vietnam coast. Not one enemy unit was able to infiltrate, he said.
"But what we weren't prepared for was the environment that we received when we returned home," McCamish said. "It was an environment that failed to recognize the price we had paid. The appreciation just wasn't there."
The Honor Guard stands after firing a 21-gun salute Monday at the Memorial Day program at the Chattanooga National Cemetery.He said the treatment they received upon coming home is ingrained in his generation of veterans. But now they're committed to making sure veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have a better transition from war to civilian life.
"We don't want to see happen to them what happened to us," McCamish said. "We don't want the nation to ever forget."
Don Hays, who served in Vietnam in 1963, said he's been attending Chattanooga's Memorial Day service since he returned home from the war, where he served in a Marine helicopter unit.
He said the treatment of veterans has changed a lot since then.
"I think people understand that freedom is not free," Hays said.
Throughout Monday's ceremony, various elected officials and veterans took time to thank veterans and their families.
Chattanooga Mayor Andy Berke said there are countless stories of courage and valor across the United States, especially here in the Volunteer State.
A large group gathers Monday at the Memorial Day program at the Chattanooga National Cemetery."We know there are many heroes among us. They walk around our city every day," Berke said. "But these aren't just heroes. These are also sons and daughters and wives and husbands and fathers and mothers. The tremendous amount that you've given to our country to make it what it is today, I truly am thankful."
The ceremony wrapped up with an a capella rendition of "God Bless America," a 21-gun salute and the playing of taps.
As the crowd dispersed, many snaked through the ivory white, flag-adorned graves of the national cemetery. Others got in their cars and headed home. As groups from the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the American Legion packed up, a few people approached perfect strangers.
They shook their hands or patted their backs. Thank you for your service, they said.
Contact staff writer Kevin Hardy at khardy@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6249.